Foot Fractures

♦ What is a Fracture?

Most patients are not aware that a fracture is a broken bone. Most believe this is a chip or partial break but this is wrong. A fracture is a broken bone. Fractures come in a variety of types. They are classified as displaced or non-displaced and further, by open or closed. The most common fractures that are misdiagnosed are stress fractures.

♦ Types of Fractures

A displaced fracture is where the parts of the broken bone are not touching each other, while a non-displaced fracture is where the pieces are touching each other and in their original position.

An open fracture has broken skin in the area and a closed fracture does not involve skin damage.

A stress fracture is a bone that breaks internally but its rim is solid. An analogy to this is a baseball bat.

♦ An Example

When a baseball player hits a ball with a wooden bat, the bat may break but the crack isn’t seen. He or she checks this by tapping the bat on home plate and can feel or hear that the bat isn’t solid all the way through. This is kind of what happens to a bone. This is hard to diagnose because x-rays will not show the break for 5-8 weeks. The break is diagnosed by symptoms of pain and possible swelling or by MRI. It is very important to tell your doctor a complete history of your complaints to help make the right diagnosis.

♦ How We Handle Foot Fractures

In our office we see mostly stress fractures because the pain starts slowly and the patients come in not knowing what is wrong. When an accident causes a bone to break, the pain is usually severe enough to go to the E.R. These patients are usually referred to us for follow up of a fracture seen on x-ray. These can be displace or non-displaced.

The treatment of foot and ankle fractures varies by many factors. Most can be treated with casts or removable boots, but some do require surgery. At Roxbury Foot and Ankle Center our fracture treatment is decided by the site of the trauma and the patient’s life style. Not all fractures need surgery.

♦ Healing Process

Broken bones take minimum of 4 weeks to heal. You should expect a foot or ankle fracture to take longer. This is because we walk on these areas and gravity sends fluid to our feet. If a patient has good immobilization of a foot or ankle fracture and elevates this area above the level of his heart, as much as possible, the fracture may heal sooner. This is a rare event. We use our clinical judgement and follow x-rays to decide when a bone has healed.